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Daily news and top headlines for broadband communications engineering and design professionals
Gigabit to the home lit up in California
July 26, 2001 8:00 pm | by Anne Kerven | CommentsCompetisys Corp. today lit up its HomeStream system at the Poppy Meadows development in American Canyon, Calif. The new system, purportedly the first of its kind in the country, provides a Gigabit Ethernet, direct fiber-optic connection into the home. Services to be piped over the full duplex system include IP telephony, video (digital television and other video products including PVR capabilit...
CEA sets powerline networking tests
July 26, 2001 8:00 pm | by Anne Kerven | CommentsThe Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) said today that its R7.3 Home Networking Subcommittee will begin extensive field-testing of existing powerline carrier (PLC) technologies on October 1 and will select the winning technology for a technical standard by January 2002. CEA will oversee the testing, which will be conducted by a professional third-party test service.
Jupiter posts subscriber gains in Japan
July 26, 2001 8:00 pm | by Anne Kerven | CommentsJupiter Telecommunications Co. Ltd., the largest broadband and cable service provider in Japan, reported an impressive one-year gain in total subscriber households, as well as in cable TV, telephony and high-speed access subscriber categories. Since the end of June 2000, the number of households subscribing to at least one Jupiter service increased 84 percent (485,000 subs), from 591,400 to 1,0...
Transition to DTV has obstacles
July 25, 2001 8:00 pm | by Anne Kerven | CommentsLooks like the transition to digital broadcasting won't exactly be pain-free. According to ATSC performance compliance analysis performed by digital datacasting and testing company Triveni Digital, digital transport streams from broadcasters are filled with enough errors that they could have a negative impact on picture quality.
Remote workers will drive broadband demand
July 25, 2001 8:00 pm | by Anne Kerven | CommentsRemote workers (aka telecommuters) in the U.S. are driving increased demand for broadband services, according to a new study from research firm Cahners In-Stat Group. By 2005, more than 60 percent of the U.S. workforce will be considered remote/telecommuters, driving continued need for remote connectivity and high-speed Web access, the report suggests.
Consortium gives HDTV a jump-start
July 25, 2001 8:00 pm | by Anne Kerven | CommentsThey may be strange bedfellows, but a wide-ranging group of media companies and Hollywood movie studios has banded together to support a new digital interface that incorporates copy protection for high-definition television content. The interface, dubbed "Digital Visual Interface (DVI) with high-bandwidth digital content protection (HDCP)," was specifically designed to port high-def signals fro...
Yipes acquires rights from bankrupt Broadband Office
July 24, 2001 8:00 pm | by Anne Kerven | CommentsOne man's problems are just another's fortune. Yipes Communications Inc. has acquired the rights to serve more than 3,500 office buildings nationwide from bankrupt company Broadband Office. In conjunction with the Delaware court proceeding, Yipes has signed access agreements with nine major real estate entities who own or control more than half of Broadband Office's portfolio.
Global broadband market expected to double by 2004
July 24, 2001 8:00 pm | by Anne Kerven | CommentsDespite the current economic malaise, worldwide broadband Internet subscribers will total more than 15 million in 2001 and double in size to at least 30 million in 2004, according to a new report from Multimedia Research Group Inc. Revenues for IP (streaming) media servers and storage are currently $3.
Cox net income down 66%; Excite needs funds, or else
July 23, 2001 8:00 pm | by Anne Kerven | CommentsCox Communications' second quarter net income fell 66 percent to $30.7 million, or 5 cents a share, from $91.2 million, or 15 cents a share, a year ago, Cox reports. Basic customers reached 6.2 million, up 5 percent over a year ago. Total revenues were up 14 percent, to $1 billion from about $879 million a year ago.
Lucent sells fiber unit for $2.75 B
July 23, 2001 8:00 pm | by Anne Kerven | CommentsMere hours after Lucent representatives said the company still was negotiating with multiple vendors over the possible sale of its Optical Fiber Solutions unit, the company has announced it will split the unit between Japan's Furukawa Electric Co. and Corning Inc. for $2.75 billion. Under the deal, Furukawa will pay $2.
CableLabs starts testing for Wave 19
July 23, 2001 8:00 pm | by Anne Kerven | CommentsWondering who's up for CableLabs' Certification Wave 19? The organization started its certification and qualification process yesterday, and will continue through Sept. 21, according to its schedule. A CableLabs spokesman couldn't say if there were any new companies in this round. "You've go to realize, there are hundreds of companies from around the world that come into that process," says Mik...
Lucent reports $3.25 B loss; will cut 20,000 more jobs
July 23, 2001 8:00 pm | by Anne Kerven | CommentsLucent Technologies Inc. reported a third-quarter net loss of $3.25 billion, or 95 cents a share, including discontinued operations, compared with a net loss of $301 million or 9 cents a share a year ago. The company says it has reduced its workforce by 19,000 jobs since January and plans another 15,000 to 20,000 job cuts in the second phase of its restructuring plans.
OpenTV touts 29-app package for DCT-2000
July 22, 2001 8:00 pm | by Anne Kerven | CommentsOpenTV's software was deployed via USA Media Group's ITV package in Half Moon Bay, Calif., allowing 29 interactive applications over Motorola's DCT-2000 set tops, the company reports. OpenTV says the package includes e-mail, instant messaging, shopping, nine different games, news, weather and sports.
GWB to use EnReach ITV ware in low-cost set-tops
July 22, 2001 8:00 pm | by Anne Kerven | CommentsGreat Wall Broadband will use ITV middleware and application software from EnReach in its set-top boxes for its market in China. EnReach says the services will launch in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. GWB is investing more than $600 million in three years on broadband infrastructure and applications in China, and so far has built networks in more than 20 cities.
Cablevision taps Harmonic gateway for NY VOD
July 22, 2001 8:00 pm | by Anne Kerven | CommentsCablevision Systems Corp. will use Harmonic's Narrowcast Services Gateway 8100 in its New York metro VOD rollout later this year. The NSG 8100 is a server gateway in VOD transport, and supports eight QAM channels in a single rack unit, Harmonic says. The gateway comes with such standard components as processing of streams from multiple high-capacity servers, multiplexing, program filtering, rou...
